Christ-centered Environmentalism and the Global Warming Boogeyman

2018 UPDATE: I disagree with much of the content in this blog now, and am keeping it online only as evidence of how I have evolved and grown in Christ. In particular, it has become clear that global climate change IS happening, and a major cause is anthropogenic. 

This article developed in response to some questions a student posted on facebook about "global warming". It was too long to post there, so now it is here:

I have two sides on the issue of environmentalism. On one side, we have to care about the environment, because God does. He made it. He says its good. He has given us stewardship over it, and we will have to answer for how we have used what he has loaned us. If he cares about "the birds of the air... and the flowers of the field" (cf. Matthew 6), then we have to care about it too. Furthermore, this earth is what his children live on. If pollution is hurting his children, in the form of disease, bad water, acid rain, and other problems, then it is hurting God, and honestly, pissing him off. That is why I care about the environment, why I recycle, why I like bio-fuels and so forth. As follower of Christ we need to do everything we can to stop the destruction of God's world, and to redeem EVERYTHING for Christ's sake: people, places, and pollution included.

Face to Face with the Love that will not Die

Before reading this, do the following "thought experiment". If I say "hell", what does it make you think about? Don't read this next sentence until you have thought about that for a second. If I say "God's love", what does it make you think about? If I say "the God revealed in Jesus Christ", what do you think about? Finally, think about this: How do hell, God's love, and the God revealed in Jesus Christ fit together? Now, ponder these Scriptures:

What the Hell is Hell?

This morning Andrew Green (a fellow theomedian) asked me the following question:

It says that demons are tempters in the Bible, but does it ever say that they are tormentors (I know that the two terms are synonymous in some circumstances, but that's not what I mean)? It seems to me that culture picked up somewhere that when we go to hell, lots of happy little demons get to torture us all day long. Where did we get that?

So, I answered with the following:

The 2006 Bostian Christmas Letter

Happy Hannakah, Awesome Advent, Merry Christmas, and Ecstatic Epiphany from the Bostians!

We hope this letter finds you enjoying the winter holy-days and possibly even winter weather (it feels a lot like Spring here in North Texas). 2006 has been a big year for the Bostians, full of all manner of awesome blessings. What kind of blessings, you ask? Well, here is a quick list of all the cool things that God did in our lives (or at least helped us endure!).

Of Tightropes, Foundations, and a Healthy Church

I have been wanting to write something about the nature of true "orthodoxy" for quite some time, but every time I get started it quickly becomes thousands of words long. So, I am going to attempt to say something short… Well, at least short for me.

There is a common version of "orthodox" theology out there that likens the Christian worldview to an unassailable Stronghold built upon an unmovable foundation. This Castle must be defended day after day from the attacks of barbarian "unbelievers", and the rising torrent of the flood of Godless "culture". Yet, the Strong Castle remains unmoved. It never advances out from the Rock it is built on, but calls all to flee from the Land of the Godless and find refuge in its static, changeless walls.

Mere Mary: A Mary that Protestants and Catholics can celebrate together.

Last night I was blessed to watch the movie "The Nativity". I was not blessed because it was an accurate portrayal of what Scripture tells us about Mary and the Incarnation. It wasn't. Don't get me wrong. The costuming and setting were good attempts to capture the first century Judean ethos, and all of Jesus' family looked "Jew-ish". I mean, thank God they did not look like they came from the Charlton Heston school of Biblical impersonation. But the timing on the arrival of the Magi was all screwed up, the Bible says nothing about how many magi there were, and the portrayal of the Star of Bethlehem was a bit cheesy. And, to top it off, the birth scene looked a bit like a Hallmark card from the 1950's (but at least the actors looked Jew-ish!).

In Search of the "Pure Church"

[Fr. Ahab sets to the seas to find the illusive "pure church"]

I want to confess that I don't really get it. I don't get theological "conservatives", even though I am one. In the unfolding soap-opera of church politics we are in right now, there are many "conservatives" who believe in the same Jesus and who trust the same Bible that I do, who say things like "my conscience just won't let me bring anyone else into the Episcopal Church because it is so corrupt". They are (rightly) embarrassed by some of the crazy revisions that the National Church is trying to ram down everyone's throat. But they (wrongly) think that this is a reason to keep people out of this church body. They (rightly) want the Church to be holy and orthodox like our Lord, our Scriptures, and our Great Tradition implores us to be. Yet they (wrongly) think that there is some version of the Church- whether past or present- that is wholly holy and overwhelmingly orthodox.

For Everything There Is A Season

DATE: Wednesday 2006.10.04
TO: Rev. Rob Smith
CC: Youth, Parents, and Vestry of Church of the Apostles

RE: For Everything There Is A Season…

Living in Romans 7 | Longing for Romans 8

I was a jerk the other day. I sinned against God and my neighbor. And I am under a lot of stress with ministry, seminary, family, lack of sleep, and a half dozen other things. So, when I was talking to a friend today, he said it sounded like I was not taking responsibility for what I did. Instead, I was blaming what I did on the stuff going on around me. And he was right. I was focusing way too much on what was going on around me, and not what was going on in me.

We all do stupid things when we get stressed to medicate ourselves so we don't have to think about the things that worry us. The Bible calls these stupid things sin. Recovery groups call it addiction. Family therapists call it dysfunction. And the doctor calls it sickness. I am not sure that any of these terms fully capture the reality of what is wrong with us, deep down inside, that causes us to make dumb decisions that hurt others and ourselves and our God.

Jesus Camp: The Most Un-Funny Christians Ever

I just saw the "Jesus Camp" movie with my kids from youth group. It is a stunning, breathtaking, evenly-balanced movie. It will also make you sick. I got nauseous watching it. The whole movie was a continual mix of truth and error, Gospel and Law, God and the devil. It was like riding in the car with a narcoleptic. For a long time you would be driving along just fine, agreeing with what was being presented, and then all of the sudden the driver would fall asleep at the wheel and the car would veer off of the road and crash in flames. And this happened at least a half-dozen times in the movie.

It wasn't like the "religious" people were presented as all evil all the time. They weren't. For the most part they were presented as kind, loving, caring people, who were a little odd. They were the kind of folk that live next door. And then all of the sudden they would drive off of the side of the road into this scary ravine of hate and exclusion and power-politics. And this happened over and over in the movie.

I think the words that best describe the movie are idolatry, warfare, and humorless.

Theomedy: The jokes on you...

What could be more comedic than a smelly biped with a three pound brain trying to comprehend the purposes of God? Yet, that's what delights our Maker! So much that He became a smelly biped too. This blog explores this ironic fact with amusement, wit, and just a little bit of sarcasm.

Just War or Pacifism? Rodrigo versus Gabriel

This is a speech given in a "Just War versus Pacifism" debate at Perkins School of Theology in September of 2006. The starting point of this debate was the 1986 film "The Mission" in which Jeremy Irons plays "Gabriel", a Jesuit missionary evangelizing South America in the 1700's. It also stars Robert DeNiro, who plays "Rodrigo", a mercenary and slave trader who converts to Christ and becomes a Jesuit as well. The climax of the film happens when the Portuguese government closes all of the Jesuit missions so they can sell all of their inhabitants into slavery. As the army invades to rape, pillage, burn, and destroy the mission, Gabriel and Rodrigo choose to stay with their flock, but they do so in two totally different ways. Gabriel, being a man of peace his entire life and untrained in military tactics, chooses pacifism, and is martyred with the women and children by Portuguese muskets. Rodrigo chooses to wage war as a last ditch effort to protect the people of the mission. Though he kills many of the soldiers, he and the able-bodied men of the mission are martyred as well. This sets the stage for the debate…

Aphorisms, Bumperstrips, and T-Shirts

Just some sayings I have come to love at this point in my life and ministry...

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Love 'em all, let God sort 'em out!

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God loves you more than that...

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Christmas is nice, but

Let's put CHRIST

back in christians!

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whatever you do, do NOT think about jesus christ.

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jesus is for loosers...

we're all loosers...

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to hell with your fascist barbie doll beauty standards!

jesus makes you beautiful.

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you are what you worship.

what do you worship?

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imperfect. flawed. needy. hurting. sinner.

loved. redeemed. treasured. cherished. child of god.

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jesus is a just crutch for weak people...

...and he is waiting for us all to realize we are weak people.

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christians are all hypocrites

and we have room for one more... so join us.

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the bible is irrational, confusing, and contradictory...

that makes it the perfect guide to help us through an irrational, confusing, contradictory world.

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an apathetic christian

is a pathetic Christian.

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porn is slavery...

if you don't believe it, just try to stop watching it for a month.

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mass marketing is making you a slave...

if you don't believe it, just try to stop watching t.v. for a month.

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be a true rebel... throw away your television set.

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be a real non-conformist... say no to mass marketing

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i am a person

not just a body

so look me in the eyes.

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American Religion:

- my family doesn't have time for god... we worship our child's extra-curricular activities!

- i don't have time for god... i worship at the altar of success!

- don't ask what you can do for jesus... ask what jesus can do for you!

- i am the god of my own universe. really.

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jesus is ironic.

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when god made man and woman he did not consult mtv, maxim, cosmo, playboy, or victoria's secret

jesus makes you beautiful

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I'm an aatheist

do you know who you are?

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ask me about jesus.

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The difference between what you think you believe

And what you really believe

Is shown in how you live

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JESUS LOVES

men - women - children - teenagers - the unborn - the elderly - gays - straights - christians - nonchristians - atheists - hindus - buddhists - muslims - black - brown - red - yellow - white - pink - the poor - the rich - the stupid - the smart - pretty folks - ugly folks - skinny - fat - liberals - conservatives - fundamentalists - random acts of mercy and love - probably some politicians and lawyers - the person in this shirt - and...

EVEN YOU!!!

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Yes! I am the most smartest person alive!

Finally someone said it…

Finally someone said it. It is something we all need to hear.

http://www.internetisshit.org

They are right. Internet information is worth precisely what we pay for it. Nothing. Perhaps I may give up blogging. I waste too much time on it anyway.

Maybe I will just go "old school" and start up conversations with real people at coffee shops and bookstores again.

The Gospel of the Kingdom versus The Gospel of Me.

The cover of the current Time Magazine asks the always poignant question: "Does God want you to be rich? The debate over the new gospel of wealth". The "gospel of wealth" is not necessarily a new gospel. It arguably began when Simon Magus offered to by the gift of the Holy Spirit from Peter (Acts 8). Paul speaks of those who preach Christ "out of envy and rivalry" as well as "selfish ambition" (Philippians 1:15-17). But perhaps the greatest evidence of the perennial heresy of "health and wealth" is found in Paul's advice to Timothy:

"[There are those] who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6:5-10)

Dear Porn Student…

WARNING: This blog is fairly explicit about the Christian faith, sexuality, and my own experiences. It deserves an "R" rating. Please do not read it if you are under 16 or 17. And if you do read it, please do not complain about the adult content.

This week a person calling themselves "pornstudent" commented on a twocitiesblog which was dealing with child pornography and sexual consumerism. Pornstudent has made it the point of his blog to defend adult use of pornography as "good" and "beneficial". I felt called to reply on his blog. Here it is:

Jesus Camp Cometh

Have you seen movie posters yet for the movie "Jesus Camp"? Are you wondering if perhaps it is some teenage-angst-and-hormone filled cross between "Saved" and "American Pie"? Well, you would be wrong. It is a documentary about a Pentecostal children's ministry camp that is aimed at making elementary-aged children "soldiers for Christ" who will take back this country for Jesus.

It looks like it will: (a) Be fairly biased against conservative Christian believers, and try to paint them/us in a negative light; (b) Make us take a long hard look at the Jesus we are portraying; and (c) Open a great opportunity for dialogue with Christians and Non-Christians about what Jesus is really all about.

Rather than summarize what I have read, let me give you what Wikipedia says (which is pretty good):

God-Wrestling: Struggling with God through Scriptural Ambiguity

[After wrestling with Ya-qov from dusk till dawn, the God-man] said, "Your name shall no longer be called Ya-qov [the Swindler], but Yisra-El [the God-Wrestler], for you have wrestled with God and humanity, and have endured." Then Ya-qov asked him, "Now, tell me your name!" But he said, "What is this that you ask my Name?" And right there [the God-man] blessed him. So Ya-qov named that place "Face-of-God", saying, "I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." (Genesis 32:28-30, Authors translation)

All who call the God of Ya-qov their God are called to walk in the footsteps of his faith, and wrestle with God in the same way Ya-qov did. After Ya-qov wrestled with God (dare I say fought with God?), he was injured. He limped. But he was blessed by God in a way that he would not have been if he had not fought with him. When I read this passage I think of Lieutenant Dan screaming at God in the hurricane in the movie "Forrest Gump". At the end of the movie, Lieutenant Dan came back from his life-long fight with God physically limping, but blessed and made whole in ways that far exceeded his physical circumstances.

Should the name Evangelical be "left behind"?

2020 UPDATE: I still agree with most of the values and ideals which underlie this 2005 "essay" (which is more of a rant). But I think the way I presented these values here is very ineffective. It is a great example of how irony and sarcasm can work very poorly in print. I leave it up as a reminder of where I was at in 2005 and how I can write better.

I write to you as a bonafide, card-carrying evangelical. I was "born again" in 1992 by receiving a "personal relationship" with Jesus Christ, after which my lifestyle and worldview was radically changed. I was discipled through a minister getting his degree at Dallas Theological Seminary, as well as through Campus Crusade. My evangelical credentials are all in good order.

On occasion, one of evangelicalism's guiding lights will say or do something that makes me cringe to associate myself with the "E" word. Whether it is Pat Robertson's crazy pronouncements, Falwell's animated antics, a half-baked Baptist boycott, or our general drift toward political supremacy and cultural triumphalism... there is always something out there I feel I have to apologize to both God and man for by taking up the name evangelical.

But what do you do when one of the media stars of evangelicalism does something so patently against the gospel that to be associated in the same camp is to be associated with something demonstrably less-than-Christian, or even anti-Christian?

Urban Myths, Educated Gullibility, and the Danger of Christianity

Do you like Urban myths? I do! Snopes.com, the premier urban myth debunking site on the internet, is a source of endless enjoyment for me. Have you heard the one about how internet users can receive a cash reward for forwarding messages to test a Microsoft/AOL e-mail tracking system? Myth. Or about how chewing gum takes seven years to pass through the human digestive system? Myth again. Or how about the fact that Finland once banned Donald Duck because he wears no pants? Myth. And then there is my favorite genre of myth: Christian scare tactic myths. Everything from "If you don't forward this email you are denying Christ!" to "Did you know that Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair is circulating a petition to have religious broadcasting banned from American airwaves?" All myths.